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Constraints on Primordial Black Holes From Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Revisited

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arxiv 2006.03608 v1 pith:OXFOR46K submitted 2020-06-05 astro-ph.CO astro-ph.HEhep-ph

Constraints on Primordial Black Holes From Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Revisited

classification astro-ph.CO astro-ph.HEhep-ph
keywords blackholesconstraintsheliumprimordialabundanceevaporationhawking
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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As space expands, the energy density in black holes increases relative to that of radiation, providing us with motivation to consider scenarios in which the early universe contained a significant abundance of such objects. In this study, we revisit the constraints on primordial black holes derived from measurements of the light element abundances. Black holes and their Hawking evaporation products can impact the era of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) by altering the rate of expansion at the time of neutron-proton freeze-out, as well as by radiating mesons which can convert protons into neutrons and vice versa. Such black holes can thus enhance the primordial neutron-to-proton ratio, and increase the amount of helium that is ultimately produced. Additionally, the products of Hawking evaporation can break up helium nuclei, which both reduces the helium abundance and increases the abundance of primordial deuterium. Building upon previous work, we make use of modern deuterium and helium measurements to derive stringent constraints on black holes which evaporate in $t_{\rm evap} \sim 10^{-1}$ s to $\sim 10^{13}$ s (corresponding to $M \sim 6\times 10^8$ g to $\sim 2 \times 10^{13}$ g, assuming Standard Model particle content). We also consider how physics beyond the Standard Model could impact these constraints. Due to the gravitational nature of Hawking evaporation, the rate at which a black hole evaporates, and the types of particles that are produced through this process, depend on the complete particle spectrum. Within this context, we discuss scenarios which feature a large number of decoupled degrees-of-freedom (\ie~large hidden sectors), as well as models of TeV-scale supersymmetry.

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Cited by 8 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Gravitational Waves from Black Hole Reheating: The Scalar-Induced Component

    hep-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Accounting for the minimal mass spread of primordial black holes from gravitational collapse suppresses the Poltergeist GW background to the level of generic scalar-induced signals and reopens ultra-light PBH parameter space.

  2. BBN constraints on primordial black holes with a continuous memory-burden crossover

    astro-ph.CO 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Continuous memory-burden crossovers in PBH evaporation yield distinct BBN exclusion curves for PBH dark matter, with additive combinations allowing higher abundances than multiplicative ones.

  3. Primordial Black Hole Hotspots Beyond Flat Spacetime

    hep-ph 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Hotspots around light primordial black holes cool faster in an expanding universe following T_plt ∝ t^{-11/15} and vanish completely in finite time, unlike everlasting hotspots in flat spacetime.

  4. A New Origin of the Big Bang from Dark-Sector-Induced Vacuum Decay and Its Gravitational-Wave Signal

    hep-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    A model in which inflaton energy goes exclusively to a dark sector, delaying SM thermalization until a false-vacuum decay produces a GW background with present-day Omega_GW up to 3e-8.

  5. Inflaton Accretion onto Primordial Black Holes During Reheating

    astro-ph.CO 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Inflaton accretion during reheating drives non-linear PBH mass growth that extends lifetimes and amplifies emitted SGWB by multiple orders of magnitude.

  6. Evaporation of Primordial Black Holes in a Thermal Universe: A Thermofield Dynamics Approach

    hep-th 2025-12 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Thermal bath corrections derived via thermofield dynamics enhance the evaporation rate of primordial black holes, shortening their lifetimes relative to zero-temperature calculations.

  7. Primordial Black Holes Evaporating before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

    astro-ph.CO 2025-09 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    PBHs must exceed 10^9 g to affect BBN observables, yielding beta upper limits from 10^{-17} to 10^{-19} for masses 10^9-10^10 g, with public code provided.

  8. Constraints on Primordial Black Holes

    astro-ph.CO 2020-02 accept novelty 4.0

    Updated compilation shows PBHs are tightly constrained across 55 orders of magnitude in mass, ruling out dominant dark matter contributions except in narrow windows, with many limits carrying observational uncertainties.